Why Migraines SUCK!

I woke up at 2 am with one of the worst migraines I have ever had. I contemplated cutting off my head a variety of times but then decided that it would make a huge mess either 1) on our relatively new bathroom floor, 2) on our freshly cleaned carpet or 3) on our new set of sheets (let alone on the hubster). So, that idea wasn't going to work.

I then thought of shooting myself in the head but, because of the same reason as well as the fact that we do not own a gun, that wasn't going to work either.

In the end, I took migraine medicine (for all the good it did me), threw up a variety of times (gross I know but if you have migraines, you'll understand. If not, deal), used my trusty migraine relief set (LOVE IT), and suffered through it. I woke with a milder form of the migraine and took, yet again, more migraine medicine.

I have spent the day in bed with icepacks and trying to keep my mind on the nuclear holocaust that is my head. UGH.

Anyhow, I thought I would post because I have the time and I've been a slacker. I wanted to review a new knit shop that opened nearby, Downtown Knits. Michelle has opened an absolutely gorgeous shop in downtown Apex, NC which my friends and I have seen and love. It is a very open and well organized shop. The selection of yarns is still limited but vast enough to suit any knitters needs. Michelle is working on increasing her inventory and is very good about asking knitters in the shop their opinions on what yarns to carry next and in what colors. One thing that I loved about the shop is that she carries many unique yarns from local yarn vendors. For those of us who love to buy "souvenir yarn" this is EXACTLY what we look for when visiting yarn shops while on vacation.

Michelle is lovely, friendly, quirky and a great hostess. She holds a weekly knit night on Fridays and welcomes knitters to BYOB (yeah). I've yet to attend one but once the craziness that is my summer simmers down, you can bet that I will be making the trek out there. If you are in the area, you should definitely give it a shot. I don't think you will be dissapointed.

What else is going on in Chez Knittingnurse you might ask? Well, we are on the final countdown to the BIG TRIP! Paris is t-9 days away and I can't wait. DH has diligently been working on looking up everything that DS and I have asked for and has written things down for our information while we are there. We aren't an "itinerary" vacation kind of family but DH is very good about researching things in the areas we visit so that when the mood strikes us, we can look over his notes and know where to head. He has found a myriad of shops for me to do some souvenir shopping at and I've looked them over to decide which will be the best to visit while we are there. Do any of you have any fave shops that you have been to in Paris? Any suggestions?

We will also be visiting Bruges, Belgium and Normandy while there. I am planning on bringing home some sand from Normandy's beaches. Although I do not have any direct family that fought at those battles, it is an amazing part of American history and I am expecting to get emotional when I am there.

I also am planning on visiting the memorial at the Velodrome d'Hiver since, ironically, we are arriving on the anniversary of the roundup. I had no idea about this dark page in French history until my bookclub read Sarah's Key a few months ago. I really liked the book despite it's dark topic and I was amazed that the trip we had booked last year had us landing in Paris on the morning of the anniversary of this horrible event. Needless to say, I felt compelled to pay my respects at the modest plaque left to remember this tragedy.

What other things are we planning for the trip? Eating, drinking, walking, Fat Tire Bike Tour of Versailles (highly recommended by a coworker) and just 'being'. We recently found out that our hotel for the first leg of our trip recently started providing wireless internet service to guests so, hopefully, I will be able to make some quick posts during our stay.

Lastly, have I told you all that I am now taking my love of photography a bit more seriously? No? Well, I am. After photographing a friend of mine and her boys last year as a Father's day surprise for her husband, I got an amazing response from friends in the neighborhood and recently did an engagement shoot for a coworker. I am actually going to be shooting her wedding as well! AACK!

Here are a couple of shots from the engagement shoot. Let me know what you all think.......

Have you seen this?

THIS is a great site and an amazing way to "recycle" books. So far, I've 'mooched' 2 books (one of which is next month's selection for my book club - SCORE) and now sent 3.

If you are like me and have many books which you've read and which need good new homes, go check it out! By the way, my bookmooch id is "knittingnurse" - SURPRISE!

Knitting continues slowly but surely. Still working on the SOTS-II and some other previous WIPs. I'm trying not to start anything new without first finishing somethinig old. We'll see how that goes. . . . .

Health front: at least 1 week before results come back . . . . . . .

Daily Thought

July 15, 2008
The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
— Allan K. Chalmers


I am one of those people that sign up for all sorts of stuff in her email. I can't help it. I'm a sucker. One of the things I get is a daily thought. Sometimes I open them, others I just delete. Some of them hit home and others have no impact at all. I am a believer in kismet, synchronicity, karma, fate, call it what you may and I think that things come to you at just the right time when you really need them most. Like when I am really feeling pissy about my life and how "unfair" it all is and then I go to work and take care of someone who has had their world cave in on them. I always take a look up and say "Ok God, I hear you and I will shut up. Thanks for the reminder!"

So, anyway, today's daily thought spoke to me. Not because I am not happy, I am (today is a good day). It's just that happiness can be so fleeting and we often take it for granted.

Now, since my "active" posting a lot has gone on. Hate to repeat but, there was the accident, the hot water heater, the downstairs a/c (replaced last week) and now the upstairs a/c (thankfully we have, since last week, renewed our home warranty contract so it will be, at least partially, covered this time). I am, as I type, waiting for the a/c repair people to come check it out. So, still happy though, why?

Well, because in the last few weeks I have been dealing with another issue that has really made me take a good look at life and what matters and what happiness really is. I am in the midst of a health issue that I have wondered about posting vs. not posting. For right now, let's just leave it as, I am going in next week for further tests and then I will have a definitive answer. I'm not trying to be sneaky, I just would rather wait to have a clear diagnosis (or hopefully not) before typing. As I said, I was debating about whether or not I should post about it until later but, I've been really good about keeping it to myself and I felt I needed a bit of an outlet. So, here's my vague post about the whole thing. Le sigh. Sorry 'bout that. The thing is that I really have a grasp on what truly matters better than I have in the past. I am grateful for that understanding.

So, think of me and say a little prayer if you have a moment. All will be revealed in the next couple of weeks. . . . .


Tonight is swim meet night. Woohoo. Go SHARKS! I should post some new pix of the boy soon. . . . .


Still knitting on SOTS-II but signed up for SOTS-III anyway! Ravelry link.

On a dime

So, I hadn't blogged about this but, if there were a time to blog about it, the time would be now. Last weekend (exactly 1 week ago today) we drove up to OH to trade in my husband's Pontiac bonneville for his newest car, a black cherry Cadillac CTS. Yep. My FIL works for GM and we lease cars via the employee leasing program. The lease on the Bonneville was up and we got a deal on the CTS. It was a sweet and beautiful car.

Operative word is "was".

Tonight on the way home from dinner, less than a half a mile from home (actually just 1 turn left to get into the development) we were in an accident. We were coming up on the last intersection before our development when a car coming from the other direction thought they had enough time to turn left in front of us. Yeah, not so much.

The Caddy? Well, I may not know that much about cars but I do know when a car is beyond repair. Ours is. I'm sure. The entire front end of our car came up to the dash. Literally.

Each and every single airbag in that thing deployed. Both Front bags, both front side bags, both back side bags and, unless I was just too in shock, maybe one from the back window? Is that even possible? Maybe not. But DEFINITELY all 5 of the other ones did. BTW, that dust released by airbags when they deploy is horrible. My throat is still scratchy from inhaling it but if that's the worse I have to complain about, it's all good.

Let me tell you all something. That Cadillac? Worth every penny if I were to buy one. We were all, of course, wearing seatbelts but considering the damage to the car, I can't believe that we all walked out without a scratch. Sore? Absolutely. But nothing broken or cut. The inside passenger area (what is that called again?) held up to the impact. It was a bit difficult for people to open the two front doors but they did open and DS's door in the back opened without a hitch. DH and DS were sore but not in any real pain. I, on the other hand, had a sore neck so, I got a nice ride in a shiny ambulance on a back board with a C-collar. UGH! Thankfully my CT and Xrays were all OK and we were all just warned by the ED staff about how horribly sore we will be in the morning. Great. DS was such a champ. Didn't even really complain once. All he was was worried about me. Such a big guy. He said he was "sore, but OK".

3 1/2 hours and a cab ride home later, we are back and trying to wind down from the whole thing. Boy, it makes you really think of how absolutely precious and fragile life is. Would the Bonneville have held up as well? What if one of us happened to have not had our seatbelt on (we ALWAYS do but, y'know it makes you think). Thank God that we are all conscientious enough to wear seat belts and that the car held up so well (bless you GM). Poor hubby is on the phone making a claim with the other driver's insurance company.

We are going to go the the towing place tomorrow to gather up anything left in the car and to take pictues. Funny, the first pictures that I will be posting taken with my new camera is going to be of our new, but totalled, car.

You'll remember just how quickly things can change when you see the picture. I am just so happy that we are all OK.

Remember to kiss your loved ones and tell them how much they mean to you. Oh, and one more thing. . . .

always wear your seatbelts!

I feel crappy

My body is shaky, I'm sick to my stomach (on & off) and I have the headache from Hell. My nose is stuffy, my throat it scratchy, I have a crappy cough AND I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in a couple of nights. Had to stay home from work (after being cancelled on Monday and probably having to call off for tomorrow- crap we need the $$) and did NOT step foot out of the house for a single thing today AND it didn't drive me crazy! (Normally I would at least have to walk out on the deck or in the yard at some point.

BUT. . . . .

I DID start on the first sock for my pal's HP sock for Hogwarts Sock Swap 2. I would show you a picture of them except that this time around we KNOW who are pals are (we are doing a direct swap - she knits for me and I knit for her). Therefore, if I post a picture, there's a good likelihood that she'll see them and that would be no fun. . . . .

I can say that I knit the cuff and about 1 1/2 inches of the leg (so about 2 1/2 inches) which doesn't seem like a lot but I WAS after all sick and everything. . . .

I won't go too much into detail except to say that the beautiful Rio de la Plata in my last post will be the body of the socks and there is an alternate yarn for the cuff, heel and toe. Is it bronze? Is it silver? Is it variegated? I can't say. SOMETHING has to be a surprise, right?

I am surprised that I went cuff down. But, I found THE pattern and feeling sick and all I didn't want to think about how to convert it from cuff down to toe up. Oh well, that means that I will probably have some yarn left . . . . . maybe for opposite socks?

We'll see.


Oh, in other knitting news, I FINALLY found a new knitting group since moving. I foudn them through meetup and I FINALLY got to go to a get together on Tuesday night. What's nice is that this is a new group so it's not like I'm joining an already established group, y'know? They had only had 2 meetings prior to this one so everyone is still getting to know everyone.

It will be good for me. I missed having that.

OK, I'm getting dizzy again so I am going to go call off for tomorrow and lay down.

UGH!